Walk On Water Or Drown
by kbecks41319
Summary: When Meredith gets a patient late one night, she doesn't know just how much the girl is going to change her life. Mer/Addie pairing. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Not my normal kinda story. This is what happens when I'm without internet and transportation. As always, I own nothing. Reviews are always welcomed ;)

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><p>She was bleeding from her lip, her eye was turning a nice purple-ish color and she was walking with a limp. That still wasn't enough to bring her in to the ER, it seemed. Her friend had dragged her in, words firing back and forth between the two several times as Meredith checked her over. It seemed that the dark haired boy had something hanging over the brunette girl's head, something that kept her seated and cooperative through out the exam.<p>

"Emma, we're going to need to x-ray your leg and face, so I need to know if there's any chance you're pregnant."

The girl had never told them her last name, just the first and her age (which had been supplied by her friend: 16). From what the doctor could gather, it had been the girl's father who had done this to her.

Laughter escapes the girl's lips and the way her friend is looking like he knows a secret tells Meredith that there's more to this story but she doesn't push it, just cocks her eyebrow and waits for a response.

"No," Emma shakes her head quickly as the laughter dies down. "There's absolutely no way I'm pregnant."

"Unless there's a way for girls to get one another pregnant that you docs are hiding from the rest of us," the boy (Jake, if the name the girl had been yelling when they came in was any indication) pipes up with a smirk that could rival McSteamy's.

"Shut up," the girl mutters as she shoves him with her good arm, reminding Meredith they still need to ice her knuckles.

"Jensen," the doctor calls out to an intern that's passing, catching his attention. "Bring me an ice pack and let Dr. Torres know I'll be needing her to look over x-rays in a bit."

"Sure," the intern nods before hurrying off to do what he was told and whatever else he had been about to do.

"Is all this necessary? Can't you just fix up my lip and eye and send me on my merry way?" Emma glances around the hospital suspiciously, like someone might jump out from a corner and hit her, her hands twitching in her lap.

"Em, you can't run cross country with a damn gimp leg. Shut up and suck it up, or I'm going to tell." Jake gives her a look, one that says not to mess with him or he actually will do what he's threatening, and Meredith can't help the smile that tries to tug at her lips.

"Asshat," the girl murmurs before crossing her arms, staring straight ahead to avoid the smug look the boy is giving.

"I'll remember this when my cousin visits again," he smirks before leaning back in his chair, pulling out his phone that just chimed.

"You mean the cousin that texts me first to let me know when she's coming rather than you?" Emma smiles, glancing nervously at the phone in his hand. "That your mom?"

"Katelyn," he shakes his head. "Mom is on the way home from work now."

Meredith takes the ice pack from Jensen, carefully pulling Emma's hand towards her and easing the pack onto her knuckles. She pretends not to notice the girl flinch away from her, or how she curls into herself on the bed.

"You should go," she hedges quietly. "I don't want you getting grounded again over me, I'll figure something out."

"I'm not leaving you alone here, _sorella_, no way. Mom can just get over it." He shakes his head, giving her the stubborn look that had graced his face earlier. "I'll tell her I was running laps."

"This could take forever, Jake, and you've got that date with Kayla next weekend. I'm not about to screw that up because I'm stuck in the ER. I'll be fine." Emma is glaring at him, glancing at the phone that beeps again.

"Actually," Meredith cuts in as she notices the look on the boy's face, one that says he's not about to give in that easily. "We're about to take her up to x-ray right now and she'll be there for a while, after that we may have to set her leg and put a cast on it. She'll be here well into the night. We may even keep her over night, to make sure there's no internal bleeding that we can't see in her stomach."

"Son of a whore," the girl mutters under her breath. "You couldn't just let me walk it off, could ya, Jake? Now I'm going to be stuck in this mother trucking hospital all damn night and I probably won't make it to school tomorrow. Three more absences and they call in child services again."

"Your leg needed to be looked at, Emmaline." He bites out her name, glancing towards Meredith before leaning in closer. "I'm not going to let that bastard keep you from doing the one thing that you love."

"Jake!" She smacks his shoulder with her good hand, glancing quickly at Meredith as well before leaning back and sighing. "Just go home. Don't get in trouble for me. I'll text you and let you know if I'll be at school or not."

"That would probably be best," Meredith cuts in again before they can get started on arguing once more. "If the break is bad enough we'll have to sedate her and she won't even realize that you're not here."

Jake's eyebrows crease, his lips thinning out into a frown as he glances between the doctor and his friend before he's sighing and standing up only to lean over and kiss the girl on her forehead. "_Ti amo,_ but thead."

"You too," Emma smiles slightly as she glances towards the door before looking up at him. "Don't tell anyone where I'm at, okay?"

"Promise," he winks as he gathers his coat and messenger bag, slinging the latter over his shoulder as he heads for the door. "Be nice to the doc, Em, she seems alright to me."

"Just cause you thinks she's pretty doesn't mean I have to trust her, perv. Go home." She shoots him a look as he disappears out the door before turning her attention back to Meredith, smiling slightly. "Sorry. He's not exactly shy about some things."

The doctor can't help but laugh, shaking her head as she adjusted the ice pack on the girl's hand. "It's alright, I know someone who is just like him. Except I think the older they get, the more pervy they are."

"Great," Emma mutters under her breath as she huffs out a dramatic sigh. "I was hoping it'd mellow in age."

There's a quick knock at the door, interrupting their conversation and bringing both of their attention to the sound. It's a redhead with blue eyes and Meredith's face immediately lights up, her lips picking up in a smile.

"Hey," Addison grins with a brief flick of her eyes towards the girl. "I get to head out for the night, you coming?"

"Sorry," Meredith replies with a small shrug of the shoulders. "I'll probably be here all night-"

"Not if she'd let me go home," Emma pipes up, sending a hopeful glance towards the redheaded woman who is lingering in the doorway.

"No way," Meredith shakes her head as she shoots a look at the girl. "You have a busted lip, a black eye, a broke leg and I'm pretty sure you lied about hitting your head so you might have a concussion."

"I'm going to murder Jake," the brunette grumbles as she crosses her arm, careful of her swollen knuckles.

"Making friends, I see." Addison chuckles as she pushes away from the door frame. "I'll see you tomorrow then, love you."

"Don't forget to call about the cake for Adrienne," Meredith tells her as she eases out the door. "Love you too."

"Yeah yeah," the redhead waves her hand over her shoulder as she leaves the room, not bothering to look back and pacify her girlfriend.

"Sorry about that," the blond doctor apologizes, her cheeks burning red, as she turns her attention back to Emma. "We usually wait until we're not with patients but she's been here for the last three days."

"Doesn't bother me," the girl shrugs her shoulders, grudgingly allowing her to put the ice pack back on her knuckles. "She's hot."

"That's what I told her husband when I found out he was married," Meredith nods. "Of course, I had been dating said husband and she showed up to put him in his place. It worked better than she planned cause I seduced her and he moved to some small town in Illinois. Though she never admits that I was the one who did the seducing."

"Wow," Emma blinks as she goes to move her leg, wincing when she remembers that she can't. "That's just.. Wow."

"Sorry," she blinks and laughs slightly. "I ramble sometimes and you just have to tell me to stop."

"It's cute," the brunette bites her lip, cheeks a soft pink color. "My filter is obviously on vacation and my gayness is on a full scale level of ten tonight."

"That would be the medication I gave you for your face earlier," Meredith comments with only a smile as she stands up and pulls the brakes on the bed after pulling up the railings. "And don't worry, since I met Addison my gayness level has been stuck on ten."

"It must be the hospital," Emma mutters, shaking her head, looking around as they move through the hallways.

"You have no idea," the older woman smirks as they manage to catch an open elevator, shaking her own head. "You have no idea at all."


	2. Chapter 2

**Don't own any part of Grey's. Reviews are welcomed.**

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><p>"What in the hell was this girl doing?" Callie shakes her head, looking at the scans as she glances briefly towards Meredith beside her.<p>

"The story was that they were joking around and she fell down some stairs," the blond doctor starts with a grimace. "But from what I could hear, the dad did it and the girl doesn't want to tell."

"Doesn't want to be here either, from what I head." The Latina doctor pulls down the scans, a sigh on her lips. "There goes my dinner plans. I'll set the first two the best I can, but the other we'll just have to hope works itself out. Is she willing to come back for more x-rays in a couple weeks?"

"Her friend that brought her in left a number with the nurse at the desk, I'll probably have to call him and get him to make her come back." Meredith shrugs, opening the door and heading down the hallway with Callie towards Emma's room. "I think he's holding it over her head that he'll tell if she doesn't cooperate with him."

"Tough love," the Ortho doctor mutters under her breath as they open the door.

"How you holding up, Emma?" Meredith gives the girl a smile, eying the book in her hand with interest. "What ya reading?"

"I'm holding," the brunette shrugs as she holds the book up for the doctor to see, her eyes flickering to Callie curiously. "Go Ask Alice. My aunt gave it to me before she took off to Iraq last year."

"I've read that, actually, it's pretty good." She waves her hand towards Callie now, prompting the other doctor to step forward. "This is Dr. Torres, she's going to be the one working on your leg."

"You won't be in there?" Fear flashes briefly in Emma's eyes before she sets her lips in a thin line, forcing all emotions out.

"Dr. Grey will be assisting me, but this is my field of work." Callie offered the obviously skittish girl a comforting smile. "You have two breaks that I can easily set but the third is more.. difficult. The bone looks weakened but not broke completely, we'll just have to hope that the cast and staying off of it will do it some good. If not, we'll have to go back and look at it again in a few weeks."

The younger girl's eyebrows scrunched together, her lips thinning out even more as she studied a spot above the doctor's head before glancing at Meredith. "What about cross country?"

Meredith glances at Callie, who gives her a short nod, before returning her attention to Emma with a small smile. "If all goes well, you should be fine to run cross country. It might hurt a little more than usual after a run but it shouldn't be unbearable. If the third break decides to be a bit more difficult, we'll have to see what we can do."

Emma nods slowly, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth as she studies the book in her hands. She sighs a moment later, glancing back up at the two doctors. "When do we set them and put the cast on?"

"I've got a quick hip that I need to go put back in place and then I am all yours," Callie smiles encouragingly as she hands the scans over to Meredith. "Any other questions that you may have, I'm sure Dr. Grey will be more than happy to answer."

Meredith and Emma watch the Ortho doctor leave the room before the older woman turns to the girl and smiles, moving to sit in the chair that she had moved beside the bed earlier.

"So, any questions?"

"When can I go home?" The girl actually pouts, something that has Meredith chuckling as she shakes her head at the determined girl.

"I told you, we'll have to see in the morning. Any other questions that I can give you an actual helpful answer?" The blond quirks her eyebrow up, tapping her finger on the bed railing. "Or anything I can get you: water, jello, ice chips?"

"I'm fine," Emma assures her as she leans back in the pillows, placing the book on her stomach. "Just insanely bored."

"Book not helping?" Meredith tilts her head, glancing at the book and frowning at the growing bruise on the girl's hand.

"I think I've read it too many times lately," the brunette laughs quietly as she shrugs her shoulder. "The rest of my books kinda.. got messed up."

"Maybe you should ask your aunt for more," the doctor tries, not wanting to poke her nose into business that wasn't hers. If the girl wanted to let her know what was going on, she would - but she knew better than to force her way into the situation.

"Wish I could," Emma smiles sadly, her hand twitching in her lap. "She didn't make it home from her last tour."

"Oh." Meredith frowns, her brain freezing even though she knows how to deal with this; years of delivering bad news had taught her how to deal with this. It takes her a moment to shake the fog before she offers the girl a small smile. "Sorry."

"It's okay," the girl nods in promise even though her eyes tell a different story. "I knew from the beginning that there was no promise she'd be coming home. We both did."

The doctor nods, even though she knows that it doesn't matter if you knew and if you planned for it - it still hits hard when it happens, probably even more so than if it had been suddenly. She licks her lips, scooting to the edge of her chair as she reaches for her beeping pager.

"I gotta take this but I'll be back up here before they take you to set your leg," she tells the girl quickly as she stands up and heads for the door. "Try and get some rest, Emma."

The girl simply waves her hand at the doctor, already closing her eyes as she sinks in the bed. Meredith has no choice but to leave the room, rushing off towards the ER where a three car pile up was waiting for her.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own anything, boo.**

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><p>"Where the hell is Kepner?" Meredith groans in frustration as she watches the EMTs roll in the pile up patients, one after another.<p>

"She's still on that damn conference trip," Olivia offers with a weak smile as more doctors come rushing in. "You're still covering for her according to the schedule."

"Of course I am," the blond rolls her eyes. "Someone starts dating my sister and suddenly they think I like the extra hours and surgeries."

"Quit your whining," Alex smirks as he comes to stand beside her. "I want the guy with his leg hanging off at the knee."

"Mr. Sanchez is all yours, Evil Spawn." Meredith shakes her head as she watches her friend run off, before turning to Cristina. "Ms. Everson has a heart condition, page Teddy and she's yours. Room 3. Avery, take Mrs. Holland in 2."

"What we got, Grey?" Arizona Robbins offers that bright smile as Mark Sloan comes to stand beside her.

"There's a six year old and a twelve year old in 1, the older boy refuses to leave his sister. He doesn't seem that bad but the girl has a pretty bad head lac and her arm may be broke." She watches as the Peds doctor heads off before turning to Sloan. "Mr. Holland didn't suffer any serious injuries that I could see but he has a nice gash on his face that he is demanding to have looked at by our head of Plastics. Have fun with that one."

She barely manages a glance around the ER before she is rushing to room four where she had already had her own patient set up.

"Jonathon Rylie, 54 year old male, head on collision with a utility truck and side swiped by a mini van. Unconscious when the EMTs arrived and they only managed to keep his pulse going." Olivia's nose scrunches up as she hands the information over to Meredith, glancing down at the man. "He reeks like a brewery."

"Fifty bucks says he's the one who caused the wreck," an intern pipes up from beside them, helping as they start to look the man over.

"Suckers bet," Meredith shakes her head as she went to the head of the stretcher, doing a quick head examination. "We should get Nelson up here as soon as he gets out of his surgery."

"He's waking up," Olivia mutters with a quick nod of her head. "Is he trying to say something?"

"Mr. Rylie, my name is Doctor Grey. You're at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, do you remember what happened?"

"She left me," the man mumbles as his eyes flutter open and close quickly. "She left and I couldn't find her, didn't mean to.. Didn't mean to hurt. So much like her mama."

"His pressure is dropping," Olivia announces just as the machine starts to beep.

"Son of a-" The intern stops himself as he lifts the man's shirt, grabbing Meredith's attention and pointing it to the rapidly growing bruise on the man's stomach.

"We need to get him in the OR now," Meredith motions for Olivia to lift the breaks as she hands the chart over to the intern. "Page Bailey and then scrub in, I'm sure we'll need all the hands we can get."

"Got.. tell 'er sorry.." Mr. Rylie struggles to stay conscious as words whisper through his lips, his eyes finally refusing to open again.

"I'm not getting a pulse," Olivia announces as the elevator starts to move.

"Crap," Meredith mutters as she starts compressions on his chest, counting in her head. "Charge the paddles, I am not losing this man in the elevator."

x0x

"Find me the number for his emergency contact, I need a coffee. Want one?" Meredith brushes the hair from her eyes, too tired to even bother with fixing the mess that some would call a ponytail.

"Decaf, please. I still have hopes of making it home tonight," Olivia offers a smile as she walks off to the nurse's station.

She laughs, rolling her eyes at the prospect of actually ever leaving the hospital, as she takes the stairs two at a time to get coffee from the cart. The boy standing behind it, he's new and doesn't know her order yet, gives her a shy smile and she can't help but smile back. He's cute and sweet and totally too innocent to be working in a place full of death and gore.

"A black eye and a decaf," she offers quickly as she pulls the money out of her scrub pocket. She has no desire to chit chat and hopes that he'll catch on.

"Coming right up, ma'am," he grins and turns away.

Meredith scrunches her nose up, briefly wondering if it's worth it to ask him not to call her ma'am again. But he's got this adorable southern accent and it seems like it just comes second nature and she doubts that he'll remember the next time she orders anyway so she just shakes her head and sighs before leaning back on her heels to wait.

"Here ya go," he announces a few moments later and she's handing over the money before he can say anything else or call her ma'am again.

"Thanks," she mumbles out quickly before carefully taking the two coffees and heading back for the stairs. A quick glance at her watch lets her know that she's got half an hour to contact Jonathon Rylie's family and get prepped for Emma's surgery. Huffing out a breath, she hurries up and stairs and crosses the floor carefully to the nurses station where she holds out Olivia's coffee for her. "He called me ma'am," she complains as she comes around to lean against the desk.

"Tyler?" The redhead quirks her eyebrow as she takes a sip of her coffee and hums quietly, nodding appreciatively. "He's adorable with his southern accent and manners."

"You would think that," she rolls her eyes as she grabs the number that she's holding out for her. "I'll go call the family and then I'm off for Emma's surgery, page me if you need me," she waves a hand over her shoulder as she heads for the elevator, already pulling her phone out and preparing to shatter someone's world.


End file.
